The Bombay High Court has extended the stay to the implementation of the merger between scam-hit subsidiary National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and its parent Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) till March 2016, according to a stock market disclosure.

Earlier, the court had granted two week’s time for the effectiveness of the final (merger) order from the issue date—February 12, 2016.

The two-member Bench, comprising judges SC Dharmadhikari and GS Patel, observed that the merger order issued by the corporate affairs ministry was very much in detail and therefore, the petitioner (FTIL) should be given time to file its response after studying the final order.

In October 2014, the ministry had issued a draft order to merge NSEL with its parent FTIL to ensure faster recovery of dues for entities hit by the Rs 5,600-crore fraud.

The court ordered FTIL to file its submission by March 15, two days before the next date of hearing scheduled on March 17.

"The next listing date of the matter is March 17, 2016. FTIL is required to place its challenge to the final order before the Bombay High Court by amending the existing writ petition or by filing a fresh petition on or before March 15, 2016," it said in the filing.

NSEL is promoted by Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, which is backed by Blackstone and CVCI. Once the merger is completed, NSEL’s entire business, properties but most importantly its liabilities, among others, will get transferred to FTIL.